Who hired Manatt?

For me, the Manatt-Dudus enquiry has already thrown up interesting information. One of the issues the commission of enquiry (CoE) is supposed to resolve is, 'Who hired Manatt, Phelps & Phillips?' Prior to the CoE, there were two different stories: Prime Minister Golding contends that it was the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) which hired the lobbyists, while MPP insists its client was the Government of Jamaica (GoJ).

Testimony put before the CoE earlier this week is that GoJ officers met with US government officials to discuss the Dudus extradition with an MPP lawyer present. The Gleaner of January 18, 2011 reports that Ambassador Evadne Coye, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, "revealed how she took (Solicitor General Douglas) Leys to task when he included an American, unknown to her, in the Jamaica delegation to meet with US officials in Washington".

The report continues: "But Coye said her protestations were firmly dismissed by Leys, who told her that 'his minister (Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne) knows about it'." Ambassador Coye also recalled how she "ended up in the offices of US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, at the direction of Leys, without knowing where she was".

Interesting question

So the left arm of the GoJ (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade) did not know what its right hand (the Ministry of Justice) was doing. Were the Ministry of Justice and the solicitor general acting on behalf of the GoJ or the JLP? An interesting question!

Now the go-between, Harold Brady, insists that he cannot testify before the CoE because of attorney-client privilege. Which client is he referring to? Surely it cannot be the GoJ or the JLP, for they are the ones who have established the CoE and, therefore, would wish him to testify fulsomely to set the record straight. To make this clear, both the GoJ and the JLP must publicly waive all attorney-client privilege to free up Harold Brady to testify before the Emile George commission. If they do not, they will expose the CoE as a sham and a bad and expensive joke at the expense of the people of Jamaica.

If the client with which Harold Brady claims privileged communication is neither the GoJ nor the JLP, it could be MPP, which creates an interesting third story: that Brady himself hired MPP, not acting for either the GoJ or the JLP, or maybe for another party. This makes Brady a person of interest in his own right, making it even more important to hear his story.

Brady must talk

This matter is easily resolved, it seems to me: Harold Brady must testify before the CoE and the nation, and publicly say who his clients are. You cannot claim attorney-client privilege when one of the matters to be resolved by the CoE is precisely who the client is. And it is not that I doubt his word, but he must be required to produce documentary proof of who his clients are.

Seeing the wording in the contract is important. Who signed, and on behalf of whom? Was the wording ambiguous, which would lead MPP to believe it was working on behalf of the GoJ when it was actually working on behalf of the JLP?

In addition, if the Jamaica Labour Party hired Manatt, as the prime minister claims, the party should be able to prove it by producing the contractual agreement. Of course, if the Government of Jamaica really hired MPP, the documents will clearly show this. If this JLP government which established the CoE is really interested in the truth coming out, it will take the necessary steps to ensure that Harold Brady give evidence before it, and produce documents to back up his testimony.

Jamaica has a recent history of commissions of enquiry which have led us everywhere except to the truth. I have in mind the commissions of enquiry into the 1999 Montego Bay street people scandal, into the 2001 incursion into Tivoli Gardens, and into the collapse of financial institutions in Jamaica in the 1990s. I hope this current CoE will be different. But somehow I doubt it. I would love to be proven wrong in this case, so let's see what happens.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. Email colmns@gleanerjm.com